Resuscitate Me
by reinariel
Summary: AU. Flash Fic/Snippet. Unfortunately Mavis' cunning plan went haywire, inciting a battle between the Blue Skull members and the future founders of Fairy Tail. Luckily, Zeref had been following them and decided to lend his students a hand. However during the battle, something went horribly wrong. Could be seen as implied Zervis.


**Title:** Resuscitate Me

 **Fandom:** Fairy Tail

 **Summary:** AU. Flash Fic/Snippet. Unfortunately Mavis' cunning plan went haywire, inciting a battle between the Blue Skull members and the future founders of Fairy Tail. Luckily, Zeref had been following them and decided to lend his students a hand. However during the battle, something went horribly wrong.

 **General Warnings:** AU. Gen. Oneshot. Flashfic. Spoilers for events in Fairy Tail Zero. Character death.

 **Author's note:** I actually wrote this about a month ago but I didn't feel like posting it until now. So here it is! An angsty alternative to chapter 8 of Fairy Tail Zero.

* * *

It was as if the world crawled to a halt as Zeref's attention abruptly narrowed down onto one thing.

The very air around Zeref twisted harshly as darkness burst out of him, simultaneously revealing his position and searing their hapless enemies, burning the Blue Skull members from the inside out. Crimson slowly edged into his charcoal black eyes, chipping away at the fragile hold he had on his restraint. And perhaps his sanity too. Pained screams and choked pleas erupted from the men around Zeref as menacing tendrils of black magic slowly ate away at their very existence. Instinctively alarmed, Precht paled somewhat when he first caught sight of Zeref but his shoulders also slumped in relief and Precht's calm voice never wavered as he urged Warrod to help him move faster, an unconscious Yuriy safely in his arms. Later Zeref will feel guilty about the painful deaths of the Blue Skull members. And for letting his other students see him like this. But none of that registered with him at the time.

All he could see was Mavis.

Her too-still body crumpled a few feet before him, wavy blonde strands askew and bloodstained. There was a gray smudge on Mavis' right cheek, residue from the ashes that were the only remnants of a nearby bakery after the fire burnt down all of Magnolia. The ashen pallor of her cheeks, the limpness of her hair, the formerly intense hue of her green eyes- everything was just too much-

 _"Mavis. Wake up."_

The words slipped out of his mouth. But she didn't respond. Didn't twitch.

The air surrounding Zeref stilled as his hand curled into his robes further. A few beats later, as soon as Zeref sensed that his other students were far enough from him to survive, he barely had the presence of mind to get away from Mavis before everything within a three mile radius of him died. A sense of surreal disbelief hung in the ensuing silence, interspersed with intermittent flares of black magic, lashing out at the world.

(Good thing Precht got them all out of the area quick enough.)

Immense sharp pain started to emerge from the back of Zeref's head, and stabbed repeatedly into his diminishing restraint even as he tried (and failed) to keep a clear mind. He could feel the temptation to give in and let crimson-edged ruthlessness take over _-let it take away the pain-_ but after all these years of existing, Zeref had never been the kind of person to give in that easily.

(There would've been more dead bodies if he was.)

(After all, this very resistance to temptation was what got him cursed in the first place.)

Shutting out the pain he felt and making sure his control over his curse was stronger than before, Zeref knelt by her side -how did he get there? He didn't remember having moved towards her at all- and couldn't help but feel a tendril of hope grip his heart as he held one of her hands, hoping that she would awaken and smile and everything will be as fine as this world could be. After hundreds of years of drowning in his sins and guilt and the blood on his hands, meeting her was a breath of fresh air. A touch of new magic. It was somehow less painful whenever she was beside him.

Mavis changed him. For better or worse.

 _So you_ need _to live, Mavis. Live and take responsibility for what you have turned me into._

(Crimson lurked behind his eyes, one final step away from not-caring, one more step towards control and mayhem and destruction all at once. A little voice at the back of his mind whispered, _I don't know what I'd_ do _if you..._ )

So Mavis must wake up. Zeref silently willed her heart to keep pumping blood through her veins as he searched for a pulse, a sign, _anything_. There was nothing. But she _had_ to wake up. Trying to remain calm (and failing), Zeref quickly sifted through his memory for knowledge of any resuscitation methods, picked the first one that came to mind and drew in a deep breath. Without any hesitation (there was no time), Zeref leaned in and closed the distance.

 **End**


End file.
